The Journal of the Two Sisters
My Little Pony: The Journal of the Two Sisters: The Official Chronicles of Princesses Celestia and Luna (Official product page)Shown as "My Little Pony: The Journal of the Two Sisters: The Official Chronicles of Celestia and Luna" (omitting the word "Princesses") on the cover of the non-abridged version. by Amy Keating Rogers is a novelization of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's diary shown in the episode Castle Mane-ia. As a bonus, it also contains the Journal of Friendship written by the Mane Six throughout Season 4. Production Amy Keating Rogers stated that the book would include the journal entry written by Pinkie Pie in Pinkie Pride, which was not heard in the episode. The story introducing Gregor was one Rogers pitched as an episode. On pages 46-51 of the Journal of Friendship, Pinkie Pie writes about a holiday she invented called "Lollygabbing Day," for which Rogers also pitched an episode for the series but later scrapped. Summary Coronation of the two sisters Celestia and Luna's journal entries begin on the day of their coronation as princesses of Equestria. According to Celestia, they were suddenly approached one day by Star Swirl the Bearded and his three representatives—Private Pansy of the Pegasi, Smart Cookie of the Earth ponies, and Clover the Clever of the unicorns—to uphold the newly found harmony between the three pony tribes, believing that this can be best achieved by Alicorns, who represent all three tribes. Both sisters are anxious over their new positions, noting they do not yet have their cutie marks despite their age, but the ceremony otherwise goes on perfectly. Building the sisters' castle While touring Equestria in search of a place to build their castle, Celestia and Luna visit the Everfree Forest at Star Swirl's suggestion and discover the Tree of Harmony at the bottom of a ravine. Drawn to the tree's magic, the two decide to build their castle nearby. Luna draws up designs for trapdoors, hidden rooms, and secret passageways to make their home more exciting, while Celestia comes up with a library to keep her collection of books. Weeks into the castle's construction, a team of workers fails to return from a supply run into the Everfree Forest. Luna finds the ponies trapped in a cave by a ferocious manticore named Melvin, whom she, Celestia, and Star Swirl manage to subdue. As the three bind Melvin with their magic, Luna is shocked to discover she can understand Melvin's roars and learns he was simply trying to defend his home, where the ponies had set up their supply site. After Melvin bursts into tears and Luna clears up the misunderstanding with the ponies, everyone apologizes and restores Melvin's home. Melvin repays the ponies by helping them finish the castle alongside other creatures from the Everfree Forest recruited by Luna. Pranking Princess Platinum Star Swirl later arranges a royal summit at the finished castle with King Bullion and his daughter Princess Platinum of the Unicorn Kingdom. The respectful meeting is spoiled when Platinum begins insulting the sisters and calling them "blank flanks", proving herself to be resentful of their rule. Angered by her disrespect, Luna pulls a prank on Platinum with the help of Melvin, her Royal Canterlot Voice, and the castle's booby trapped throne, sending the unicorn princess flying outside. Luna quickly realizes she has gone too far and apologizes to Platinum, who also regrets her behavior, and the princesses agree to start over as friends. Platinum later helps design the castle tapestries and Equestrian flag, showing her acceptance of the sisters. Luna continues her pranking spree on Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover the Clever when they come to visit, until she is finally outsmarted by Chancellor Puddinghead, who uses her own traps against her. Meanwhile, Celestia bonds with Star Swirl over their shared love of reading and learns of two spells he has been striving to perfect: a cutie mark spell, and a time travel spell that will allow him to travel through space and time with no limitations. Lands beyond Equestria Luna learns of a forbidden area of the Everfree Forest from Melvin and decides to investigate. She makes her way through the forest to find a grassland inhabited by zebras, who mistake Luna for a manticore and wish to be left in peace. Luna is able to befriend the zebras, learning that they have developed magic barriers around their village to keep out predators. Celestia later finds Luna and scolds her for going off on her own, but she is impressed by her discovery of the zebras. Later, the sisters spend time racing with Commander Hurricane in the sky when they are attacked by a griffon. Hurricane explains that the griffons once reached a truce with the Pegasi over airspace territory, which the griffons now believe has been violated by Equestria's formation. After Celestia fails to negotiate with the griffons' foul-tempered leader Gregor in an effort to avoid a fight, Luna is able to appease him with an offering of éclairs given in rhyme (inspired by the zebras) with her Royal Canterlot Voice, following advice from Melvin. Gregor explains that the departure of his last pastry chef had left him in a bad mood, and he agrees to sign a new treaty with Equestria. Between these entries, Celestia and Luna write about their time spent with Star Swirl, who teaches Luna how to move stars when she becomes mesmerized by the night sky, particularly the moon. He also perfects his time travel spell and begins using it to travel to different points in Equestria's history. He is careful not to reveal anything about the future to the sisters, but Celestia is able to determine from his reactions that the sun, moon, and star markings on the Tree of Harmony are important. The case of the missing Crystal Heart Some time later, Celestia and Luna receive word that the Crystal Heart has been stolen from the Crystal Empire by a dragon, leaving the empire vulnerable. The sisters arrive at the empire to find the Crystal Ponies in a state of despair and their ruler, Princess Amore, depleted of her magic after trying to protect the empire with her own power. They learn that the dragon has taken the heart to his lair in the Crystalline Mountains where the heart was first found, considering everything from the mountain to be his hoard. Accompanied by Melvin, Commander Hurricane's Pegasus army, and the griffons, the sisters travel to the dragon's lair to recover the heart. After their attempts to reason with the dragon fail, the dragon states that he actually thinks very little of the heart, but he still refuses to return it simply because it belongs to him, uncaring of the Crystal Ponies' plight. In a display of anger, Celestia bursts into flames and rebukes the dragon with her Royal Canterlot Voice. Terrified, the dragon drops the heart and flees back inside his cave. With the Crystal Heart restored, everyone celebrates in the empire's first Crystal Faire, confident the dragon will never menace the empire again. The sisters' first sunrise As the sisters believe nothing else could go wrong in Equestria, they awaken one morning to find Equestria shrouded in night and Star Swirl's usually brown beard completely gray. The two are horrified to learn that all of the unicorns who normally raise and lower the sun and moon wind up permanently depleting their magic to do so. Furthermore, Star Swirl—the only one from the team able to withstand this process—tried to lower the moon by himself and has lost his own magic as a result. When the sisters ask what they can do to help, Star Swirl tells them that, as Alicorns, they would not only be unharmed by raising and lowering the sun and moon, but their magic would also be rejuvenated. Acting on instinct, Luna successfully manages to lower the moon while Celestia raises the sun. Upon their completion, the sisters are overjoyed to discover they have earned their cutie marks, which Celestia notices are identical to the markings on the Tree of Harmony. With their magic strengthened by the sun and moon, the sisters are able to restore Star Swirl and the other unicorns' magic. The sisters end their journal writing about their excitement for their upcoming adventures as princesses of Equestria. The Journal of Friendship The remainder of the book features an expansion of the journal entries written by the Mane Six and other characters throughout Season 4, beginning with Castle Mane-ia. The entries where each of Twilight Sparkle's friends receive their keys to the Chest of Harmony—Rarity Takes Manehattan, Rainbow Falls, Pinkie Pride, It Ain't Easy Being Breezies, and Leap of Faith—are highlighted by Discord, referencing the bookmarked entries in Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1. The segment is also interspersed with a collection of entries written by Pinkie Pie called "Pinkie's Random Thoughts" that transcribe Pinkie's lengthy, nonsensical ramblings. It also has an additional entry written by Twilight Sparkle where she muses over the princesses' journal while speculating how to open the chest. Notes References